In China, Han Dynasty emperor Ai begins a homosexual relationship with a minor official named Dong Xian, elevating Dong to a series of major posts and setting off a chain of events that will eventually precipitate the seizure of power by Wang Mang in AD 9.

A Note on dating the birth of Jesus:4 BC is the latest date Jesus could have been born, because Herod the Great died that year. It is also the earliest date he could have been born because Luke states that he was 30 years old when he died, but Pontius Pilate was not appointed governor of Judea until AD 26. These dates are generally accepted among historians, and are not especially controversial even among Christians because the Bible does not fix a precise date for Jesus's birth or death. The dating of the birth of Jesus to the year 1 BC is based on erroneous calculations made by the Dacian monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525.